On Thursday November 14th, I said my final goodbyes to my student in Malaysia. I left with a heavy heart, teary eyes, a prayer to the Lord that he will continue to pursue her so intentionally in a muslim community, and a promise that he will. My time in Malaysia has been such a growing and wonderful experience. I absolutely adore the friends I made, the music video I filmed, the days of teaching, and house church. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to be there, to learn and to love and to be loved.
We departed from Malaysia on Sunday November 17th and began our journey to Thailand. Our travel day ended up being a whopping 50 hour trip, including two trains, two busses, two truck rides, and lots of waiting. We arrived in Chaing Dao around 7 am Tuesday November 19th. And it..is..awesome here!
We are staying with our amazing host Wanita and her family, including her husband, 12 children, and two dogs. Chiang Dao, or “the city of the stars”, is beautiful. We’re in the mountains so the scenery is amazing and it gets cold in the mornings and at night! We’re a ten minute walk away from a cute coffee shop where I use the internet, which is nice.
Our ministry will look a little different each week we’re here. The first week we were doing manual labor, cutting down trees, moving bamboo, gardening, etc. The last two we’ve been teaching english in the government school in Chaing Dao and the preschool. We homeschool Wanita’s kids on Saturday mornings, helping to improve their english too! Sundays, we run Sunday school and house church. As well as throwing a Christmas festival in a village seven hours away. Wainta has been working in the village for a long time and she says there is not one believer who lives there and that they use to not welcome anything related to Christ, but this year they invited her to come celebrate Christmas in their village. I’m already so excited to see how God will move during this season.
Coming to Thailand from Malaysia, where we were 34 people sleeping on the floor of one room, has been such a shift. For starters, I have a bed!! Praise the Lord! And we’re in our teams, so now I live with nine other people instead of 33! I feel like my team is doing so well, all things considered. Before we came, we decided to vision cast what we wanted our time in Thailand to look like and I think we’re doing well and holding true to that. We want to set a culture and environment of worship. Worship through song, worship through prayer, worship through service, worship through words and teaching. We want to be living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. For my team, that looks like dedicated prayer time before bed where we all come, humbly on the floor, and prayer with one another and for one another. We worship together, even though none of us are super musically inclined in the instrument world. We have feedback and hold each other accountable to the goals we’ve set for ourselves. And I see how spending time with the Lord changes things. It changes relationships, days, attitudes, wants and desires. It is just beautiful that these nine girls want to come together before the Lord. It feels like home.
I have a new routine for myself here. My teammate Mollie gets me up every morning at 5:45 to go on our morning walk to watch the sun rise. We attempted to get up at 5 the first morning and that didn’t stick. After our morning walk, I do my devo. I’ve read Mark and Hebrews this week. And then Wainta makes us breakfast and our day starts.
The food here is really good. Like so good. It’s almost always some kind of rice or noodles with chicken. But we get a lot of vegetables which come straight from the garden. Wainta has been teaching us to cook too! So now I know how to make Pad Thai and Thai Tea.
Overall, Thailand is just so good. I am so excited for the rest of our time here and to see how the Lord works with our time here. Please pray for my team! Pray for our hearts, spirits, and growth during this season! Also pray for funding!! Wainta is fundraising for the Christmas Festival! Also, it is recommended to have around $100 each month for spending money, if you would like to support me in that way.
Venmo: @reannon0412
Cashapp: $ellareannon
Love you guys! And happy Holidays!!
Hey Honey! We sure do miss you… but Wow, the Lord is keeping you and your team safe and very productive. I don’t know how to use those 2 cash apps ,but I will figure it out and send you some $ for Christmas when I start shopping for everybody. They came and got the truck. ( Bear told them to change the oil) I hope they did! I have not heard how that is going. Did I have Sadie before you left? She is my new Dog and I am teaching her to be a Service Dog. She is a husky. Did you get my E-mail? Call me if you ever get a chance. I love you and stay safe.. Buddy crossed the bridge a few weeks ago, so Sadie has helped me to move on. You know I love my critters! Peace and Love.❤️
Miss you bunches! So very proud of you, the Lord is truly using you to do his work. You are growing so much stronger in your faith, always praying for you!